Episode Transcript
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Julia Goodwin (00:00):
Hi, this is Julia
, and murder is bad.
I'm doing something a littlebit different.
(00:23):
A woman reached out to me andasked if I would cover the death
of her daughter.
After looking into it, Ibelieve it is definitely
something that needs moreattention.
But before I get intoeverything, I do want to put a
warning here at the top.
I will be talking about suicide, because it's a significant
(00:45):
part of the case.
If you're not in a place whereyou want to hear about that,
then please do not listen.
If you're looking for resources, you can call or text 988 right
now or visit 988lifelinecom.
On July 22, 2020, deniseMcClendon woke up to a text from
(01:08):
her daughter's ex.
It said "they told me that yourdaughter has died.
Denise was told that herdaughter, 22-year-old Aliyah
Nicole Wilson, had completedsuicide by hanging herself
outside her apartment on July 19, 2020 in Houston, texas.
Denise lived in Michigan.
(01:31):
Denise was shocked anddevastated and confused.
Days earlier, aliyah had spokento her about arrangements for
moving back to Michigan,something they had talked about
for months.
They had both lived in Texas,but Aliyah stayed there.
When her family moved toMichigan, the plan was for
(01:52):
Aliyah to take the train andthat Denise was going to help
get the money for the ticket.
On Aliyah's Facebook she postedoften and had said within that
same week that she was leaving,moving to Michigan, and was
excited to see her new partnerwho lived in Detroit.
(02:12):
Thinking about all these thingsand hearing more about what had
happened with her daughter,denise decided that it was
extremely unlikely that Aliyahhad actually completed suicide,
and within days she was 100%positive that Aliyah had been
(02:34):
murdered.
What the Houston PoliceDepartment was telling Denise
was the following A securityguard employed at Village of
Piney Point was patrolling thecomplex when he ran through the
corner and saw somethingdangling, but he didn't know
(02:54):
what it was immediately andlooking at pictures from this
particular courtyard, it's superdark, very little lighting.
Most of the lighting is comingfrom the freaking moon.
So the guard approached and hesaw the body of a woman hanging
from the railing of the upstairswalkway.
(03:15):
Aliyah was the one whocontacted the police, and police
were able to identify Aliyahthrough her ID, which was found
in her backpack.
Two days after Aliyah's excontacted Denise, the ex sent
pictures of Aliyah's apartmentto Denise and asked her what she
(03:37):
wanted from it.
Another woman the mother of afriend of Aliyah's video called
Denise as she was walking aroundAliyah's apartment.
I am specifically avoidingusing names with the hope that
this will be investigated andthat I won't contribute to
someone not receiving dueprocess For clarification.
(03:59):
I will continue to callAliyah's ex.
The ex, the woman whose mothervideo called Denise, will be
woman one and another personinvolved will be woman two.
On the same day, woman two wasseen coming out of Aliyah's
(04:19):
apartment.
The apartment complex thenchanged the locks.
A couple days after that,exactly a week after Aliyah had
been found, the ex went live onFacebook calling woman one out,
saying that she had set Aliyahup and that she knew what she
did.
(04:40):
Denise was able to get to Texasby July 31st.
She then discovered thatsomeone had busted a window at
Aliyah's apartment.
The apartment looked ransacked.
Her daughter liked to dressnice and normally had a closet
representing that nice clothes,wigs and shoes but all that was
(05:02):
left were some stretch pants andt-shirts.
Denise did find a trash bagfull of soaking wet towels, but
when she asked investigators ifthey wanted it for evidence,
they said no.
On August 22nd, just a coupledays later, denise found out
that there was an eyewitness tothe window breaking who said
(05:25):
they saw the ex do it.
When Denise goes back toAliyah's apartment, she sees
another window broken and insidethe trash bag full of towels is
gone, along with all ofAliyah's bras and underwear all
of which had been there before.
Then, on August 4th 2020, whenAliyah Nicole Wilson should have
(05:48):
been celebrating her 23rdbirthday, her body was cremated.
At the end of that month, aBlack Panther group held a
candlelight vigil in front ofAliyah's apartment and said they
were going to investigateAliyah's death as a homicide.
On September 12th, the ex senta message to Denise saying that
(06:12):
she knows who hurt Aliyah andthat she needed to talk to the
Black Panthers or anyone elseinvestigating the death.
On September 21st, woman 2admitted that she took a pillow,
a comforter and affirmationswritten on post-it notes from
Aliyah's apartment.
Now there will also be lots ofconversations around Aliyah's
(06:38):
journal, which was not found inthe apartment but can be seen in
some of the photos the ex sentto Denise before the two windows
are broken out.
It's stated sometimes thatWoman 2 is in possession of the
(06:59):
journal.
The ex actually says thatAliyah wanted her to have the
journal and then later says Iwas just inferring, because
they're so close, that she wouldwant her to have it and
actually, just so you know, shedoesn't have it.
The ex kind of goes back andforth on a lot of things, but
there's that.
So at the end of November andinto December of 2020, fbi agent
(07:24):
John Schimp contacts Denise toask for Aliyah's cell phone.
John Schimp went on to talk toHPD, the coroner's office and
friends and neighbors of Aliyah.
From this point, denise meetsmore and more resistance to her
questions.
She also gains more and moresupporters for her cause.
(07:46):
So I'm going to get into thenittier and grittier details of
this case.
Aliyah was diagnosed as bipolar.
She had scars on her arms, justlike me and a lot of other
people out there, and she hadoverdosed on pills in 2018.
Her mother says that this wasmore of a cry for help than a
(08:10):
suicide attempt.
Aliyah was with her ex for twoand a half years, on and off,
and had told multiple friendsand her mother how volatile the
relationship was and how abusivethe ex had been.
During one of their off moments, aliyah went into a shelter.
When the ex found her, she gotscared and felt she couldn't
(08:33):
stay there anymore, so theshelter helped put her up in an
apartment the apartment atVillage of Piney Point and the
ex was able to find her there aswell, having a history of
stalking.
The police were called tentimes in a year for domestic
violence incidents.
(08:53):
Aliyah had to change her phonenumber and about a month before
Aliyah would be found dead, shetried to find a gun to purchase
for protection against the ex.
In April of 2020, there was anight when the ex had come over
and, based on messages fromAliyah, she tried to placate the
(09:14):
ex, not trying to start anyproblems.
But an incident occurred whichled to the ex grappling Aliyah,
holding her down and biting herfinger so hard that Aliyah
couldn't move it.
Aliyah went to the hospital, sothere is a record of that
(09:35):
injury and that report will comeback later.
The following information hascome from the relentless work of
Denise MacLendon.
She has been working on herdaughter's case every day for
the past three years.
The biggest and most verifiablemisstep in this investigation
(09:57):
is the assumption that this wasa suicide.
Regardless of the optics of anunnatural death, the police
should never conclude the causeof death until all evidence has
been found and an autopsy hasbeen completed.
But the Houston PoliceDepartment assumed suicide from
(10:21):
the very beginning In the policereports which Denise has posted
, officers state that this was asuicide, and when Officer
McDonnell relays thecircumstances of the death to
the coroner's office, he makessure to include that Aliyah had
(10:42):
a history of suicide attemptsand suicidal ideations.
This leads to the coroner toassume that the hospital record
of an injury to one of Aliyah'sextremities was in relation to a
suicide attempt, instead of thebite to her index finger.
(11:03):
When Denise receives Aliyah'sautopsy, which is all she has to
go off of since she wasn'tallowed to see her daughter's
body, there are some concerningfactors.
Not all of Aliyah's tattoos arelisted, which they're supposed
to be, and it's stated that allof her teeth were natural, which
(11:25):
they weren't, and it doesn'tlist the injury to her finger at
all.
Now, I don't think this is likesome kind of cover-up.
I more think that it islaziness.
It's like why do we need tospend time detailing every
little nook and cranny when weobviously know that it's suicide
(11:49):
?
In the same records fromMemorial Hermann Hospital,
physical and sexual abuse wasalso listed, so there's really
not an excuse for theauthorities to blow off abuse
claims.
There's also contradictions fromthe police reports to the
coroner's report.
The police said Aliyah wasfound hanging in front of her
(12:12):
apartment at 131A, but thecoroner's report said she was
found in between 132A and 133A.
The police said that Aliyah'sbackpack and shoes were found on
the steps outside her apartmentleading up to the walkway she
would eventually be foundhanging from.
(12:33):
They can't really explain whyshe would take off her shoes and
then why the bottoms of herfeet were clean after walking on
the ground.
But that's just another littletidbit.
The coroner reported that thebackpack was closer to Aliyah
(12:55):
and in a photo given to Deniseof her daughter's hanging,
there's no backpack at all.
Now, this photo is the singlebiggest piece of damning
evidence that police haverefused to acknowledge.
In the early morning hours ofJuly 19, 2020, the security
(13:21):
guard was making his rounds.
He had been to the courtyard infront of Aliyah's apartment
around 3:20 and returned to itat 4:20.
This is when he found Aliyah.
He said he ran to call thepolice and that call took place
(13:43):
at 4:33 am.
Why he didn't have his phone ora walkie-talkie on him is
beyond my imagination, butbetween finding Aliyah's body at
4:20 and the EMTs from theHouston Fire Department arriving
at 4:43, that security guardtook a picture with his cell
(14:06):
phone.
Hpd then arrived at 5:03, aforensic investigator arrived at
6.18, and the remaining supportofficers arrived at 6:25.
Now, by this time the body hadbeen taken down and no neighbors
had seen anything.
(14:29):
But the police didn't know that, because the police did not
knock on any doors or anything.
They didn't talk to anybody,they just got the body down.
The only reason Denise was ableto get this photo was because of
(14:49):
the Black Panthersinvestigation and while there
are parts of the photo postedout there, I will not be posting
it.
Even seeing parts of a photolike that can affect people in
profound ways.
But just look, with all thisother information it can be
found amongst everything else onthe internet.
(15:09):
In the photo there does seem tobe some injury, at least in
cruising on Aliyah's wrist andindex finger and in the opposite
hand her cell phone.
That's right.
A person the police say hungthemselves was holding her cell
(15:34):
phone, and we'll get back tothat.
Because I need to go into howexactly Aliyah got into the
position she got to, I will posta picture of where she was
found so you can go look@murderisbadpodcast that on
Instagram .
So Aliyah was found with amakeshift noose around her neck.
(15:55):
A black fitted sheet had beencut up to a usable length and,
side note, the rest of thissheet has never been found
because nobody was looking forit.
It was tied to two rods of themetal guardrail on the second
story walkway.
(16:16):
The railing is about 33 inchestall and from this photo I can
tell that the length of thesheet was shorter than the
railing, so less than 33 inches.
The noose part barely wentfurther than the second story
(16:40):
floor.
Aliyah was 5'5".
In order for her to have putthe noose around her own neck,
she would have had to have stoodon something which obviously
wasn't the case because therewas nothing there.
This isn't like a riddle, likea midget and a block of ice are
(17:00):
involved.
Ok, when met with thisassertion, police told Denise
that Aliyah must have tied it onherself on the second story and
then went over the railing.
Now an activist that goes byLady G reenacted this theory and
soon discovered that she, whoweighed less than Aliyah, caused
(17:22):
the railing to wibble andwobble by putting very little
pressure on it.
So someone who weighed more,jumping tied to this would
probably honestly have broken it, and they should have tied that
amount of weight onto therailing and thrown it over to
prove this.
And even if it would havebroken the railing, the
apartment community probablywouldn't have filed vandalism
(17:44):
charges.
I know that because theyrefused to file vandalism
charges against the ex whoadmitted to breaking Aliyah's
window.
Anyways, when met with thischallenge, hpd told Denise that
Aliyah must have tied her ownneck up and lowered herself down
(18:06):
, asphyxiating herself withoutthrashing one little bit.
Absolutely preposterous whenDenise has shared information
she's compiled, the police donothing.
She has sent the photo of herdaughter hanging with a cell
(18:26):
phone in her hand, the messagestalking about her abusive ex and
the social media posts fromthose suspected to have been
involved.
There's been no movement.
And, worse than that, during aphone call recorded by Denise,
(18:47):
an officer at HPD, officerMoorison said we don't deal with
burglaries, we deal withmurders.
When Denise asked if theabusive ex breaking in and
taking things would be probablecause for further investigation,
officer Moorison said we don'tdeal with abuse, we deal with
(19:08):
murders.
And it was super condescending,by the way.
He said all the evidence wasreviewed and that the case will
not be reopened, no matter what.
There's a lot more than whatI've presented.
Like I said, denise McClendonhas made this her full time job
(19:32):
for the past three years.
She's posted the autopsy, thepolice report, the coroner
reports.
Every time, the exand othersseemingly involved have done
absolutely bonkers things likethe ex changing her display name
to Aliyah Killer or herSnapchat display name to Tax Man
(19:57):
for Aliyah.
Okay, there's so much more, andDenise has compiled it all, and
so go check out the Justice forAliyah Wilson pages on TikTok
and Facebook and Instagram.
I do think that everything Iwent over is probable cause for
reopening the case.
(20:18):
Please, please, please.
If you know anything aboutAliyah Wilson's death, please
contact the Houston PoliceDepartment at 713-884-3131 or by
email at hpd.
communityaffairs@houstonpoliceorg.
(20:40):
Even if you don't know anythingand you just want to help get
some answers to these questions,give them a call or send an
email or tag them in your socialmedia.
Heck, why don't you contact thechief of police at 713-308-1600
.
Or Troy.
(21:03):
Finner@ houstonpolice.
org?
And while we're at it, you canjust contact the mayor at
713-837-0311 or Sylvester.
Turner@ houstontx.
gov.
Thank you for listening.
(21:41):
If you'd like to see imagesrelated to this case, you can
head over to the Instagram atMurder Is Bad podcast.
If you're feeling generous,follow us, subscribe to us, and
by us I mean me.
You could also write a helpfulreview and put a little five
(22:09):
stars on it.
That's the best way to supportus honestly and keep listening
and remember to take care ofeach other.
Aliyah Wilson (22:29):
And that murder
is bad.
Julia Goodwin (22:36):
Hello again.
I know the episode just ended,but I really wanted to express
my outrage and just confusednessin the main part of the episode
.
But I also want to highlightwhat kind of person Aliyah
(22:59):
Wilson was, and I asked hermother to tell me a little bit
about her and honestly, I justfeel there's a commonality
between us, so it was veryenlightening to read.
(23:21):
I'm just going to read you whather mother sent me.
Aliyah was passionate aboutanything she cared about.
Aliyah was creative andinnovative.
She loved people and was sokind to everyone.
People loved her as well.
(23:43):
Aliyah's favorite color wasyellow.
She shined just like herfavorite color.
She liked butterflies in nature.
She was always fashionablebecause she loved fashion.
She was a proud pansexual.
She was a proud member of theLGBTQ community.
As a child you could catch herwatching her favorite cartoons,
(24:08):
Cat Dog and Currids the CowardlyDog.
She also loved riding her bikeand going to the playground.
Aliyah wanted to be a socialworker.
She wanted to help others.
She was a very special array ofsunshine.
So that's heartbreaking thatsomeone so special was taken not
(24:33):
only from her mother and herfamily and friends, but from the
world.
So why don't you wear a spot ofyellow the next time you go out
and just represent the lightthat Aliyah brought to this
world.
I'm going to end thisafter-credits scene with
(25:01):
something I found going throughall the social media.
Aliyah also loved to sing, soI'm going to leave us Hearing
Aliyah's voice.
Aliyah Wilson (25:42):
Each and every
day there's someone judging me
why by my life and I live inthese streets Every day.
I wake up cause I drink.
Different haters Trying to getthis paper set to look like an
elevator, but no one reallywants to hear my story.
There's one woman, no one, noone for me.
(26:02):
So look me in my eyes and tryto feel I'm in.
I'm in the rain doing thehighway.
Just a little bit of blue rainEach and every day there's
someone judging me why by mylife and I live in these streets
Every day I wake up cause Idrink different haters Trying to
(26:25):
get this paper set to look likean elevator.
But no one really wants to hearmy story.
It's what I want.
No one for me.